[Edit - and as an aside: Thanks to red01999 for the testing, I did take a look at it!!]
I'm actually very glad to hear that someone did!
Any conclusions you came up with, re: Sci Ody vs. Tac Ody, or anything else like that? (Hopefully "I'm a terrible cruiser commander" not being among those conclusions...)
One extra point of base turnrate is, unfortunately, the only thing the Excelsior has going for it.
The Excelsior also has 7.5 to all subsystems, a minor one perhaps but still a nice combat diffrence. So "Secondly; the Tac Ody and the Regent both have an extra 5 weapons energy" is a little wrong.
The Excelsior also has 7.5 to all subsystems, a minor one perhaps but still a nice combat diffrence. So "Secondly; the Tac Ody and the Regent both have an extra 5 weapons energy" is a little wrong.
Actually it doesn't.
Maybe there's an "old version" that does, but my own Excelsior gives only +5, and the C-Store advertises +5.
It might be that the Transwarp Computer console provides this, but I thought it provided a boost to the Warp Core Efficiency stat as opposed to a direct boost to system power.
It might be that the Transwarp Computer console provides this, but I thought it provided a boost to the Warp Core Efficiency stat as opposed to a direct boost to system power.
The Excelsior (not Excelsior Retrofit) used to come with a Transwarp Driver Coil (which granted individual skill efficiency bonuses and a bunch of handy Transwarp shortcuts) before the skill changes kicked in and it changed to a Transwarp Computer (which grants no transwarp shortcuts. Boo. :mad:)
There was a similar console that came with the Excelsior Retrofit, but that one was discontinued. The Retrofit now comes with the extra Transwarp locations built-in to the ship - but the performance bonuses (despite being listed as present as a "scaling bonus" in the ship's CStore text) aren't in effect any more:
I am currently sitting in a space map as a max level Captain in an Excelsior Retrofit. At 100 weapons energy, with all the default equipment, my weapons power is reading 115/100 (which is normal for my skill layout on a standard cruiser with "+5 to all energy settings" - the Borg console would push this up to 120). My Space Stat UI readout shows that I'm getting +15 to Warp Core Efficiency and +10 to Warp Core Performance on top of my skillpoints - but these are consistent with the bonuses from my Captain Traits. I can't see any bonus to power settings on the Excelsior Retrofit- there's no additional raw bonus on top of the standard cruiser "+5 to all settings", and nothing extra being granted via any of the "efficiency" or "performance" skills.
core efficiency only kicks in when a systems end power level is below 75 so your engines and/or aux systems might notice a boost (but not by much)
Efficiency bonuses scale, granting the strongest buff at the lowest energy slider setting (25).
My Aux and Engine settings were both at 25 in the above test. Firstly, the UI readout showed no Efficiency bonuses to the Efficency Skill (it was at 114, which is 99 from my skillpoints plus 15 from my Captain Trait). And secondly, my Engines/Aux power sat at 51/25, which is consistent with my usual loadout.
If I slotted the console from the Standard Excelsior (+22.9 efficiency skill) in the ship, and/or some Efficient BOFFs (+7.5 each), that energy setting would rise up a little (the furthest I've been able to push a standard Cruiser's energy setting via efficiency alone is around 57/25 with the Transwarp Computer console, the Efficient Captain trait and 5/5 Efficient BOFFs). I've done a lot of testing with the Ship Power Spreadsheet and various levels of EPTX to get my ship energy levels sitting "just right", so I'd notice if they were up or down by even one tenth of an energy point. I suppose it's technically possible that the ship is granting an efficiency bonus that (unlike other bonuses from BOFFs and consoles) is invisible to the UI skill readout... but if so, it's very small: like less-than-the-bonus-from-one-efficient-BOFF small.
Efficiency bonuses scale, granting the strongest buff at the lowest energy slider setting (25).
My Aux and Engine settings were both at 25 in the above test. Firstly, the UI readout showed no Efficiency bonuses to the Efficency Skill (it was at 114, which is 99 from my skillpoints plus 15 from my Captain Trait). And secondly, my Engines/Aux power sat at 51/25, which is consistent with my usual loadout.
If I slotted the console from the Standard Excelsior (+22.9 efficiency skill) in the ship, and/or some Efficient BOFFs (+7.5 each), that energy setting would rise up a little (the furthest I've been able to push a standard Cruiser's energy setting via efficiency alone is around 57/25 with the Transwarp Computer console, the Efficient Captain trait and 5/5 Efficient BOFFs). I've done a lot of testing with the Ship Power Spreadsheet and various levels of EPTX to get my ship energy levels sitting "just right", so I'd notice if they were up or down by even one tenth of an energy point. I suppose it's technically possible that the ship is granting an efficiency bonus that (unlike other bonuses from BOFFs and consoles) is invisible to the UI skill readout... but if so, it's very small: like less-than-the-bonus-from-one-efficient-BOFF small.
I did say you likely wouldn't notice it, you'd notice it even less in combat
I did say you likely wouldn't notice it, you'd notice it even less in combat
It's not a question of noticing any real benefit from this supposed buff.
I just can't see any evidence for any such buff even existing.
There is no measurable increase in my power values themselves when flying an Excelsior Retrofit; and the numeric skillpoint display (which gets increased for ALL OTHER types of Efficiency or Performance buffs, regardless of how small) remains unchanged.
Basically: I don't believe that there IS an extra energy buff on the Retrofit.
Despite what the CStore text says (that text's had some issues with accuracy in the past)
Any conclusions you came up with, re: Sci Ody vs. Tac Ody, or anything else like that? (Hopefully "I'm a terrible cruiser commander" not being among those conclusions...)
Well my first thought was "darnit, I'm gonna have to go find and install the same logging utility to decipher these numbers!" :P
It looked pretty similar to what I'd expected from the Tac Odyssey being better for shorter engagements. It's trickier to see from logs when someone's switching targets, but you can make a decent guess given ability usage. It looked like you tended towards shorter fights than would favour Sensor Analysis.
I stand by my earlier statements about it being a matter of playstyle - if you tend to swap targets at least once every 30 seconds (either for targetted buffing/healing teammates or via killing stuff quickly) then the Tac version's going to be better suited for you. At least for whatever damage type you're enhancing via Tac Consoles. Whereas if you tend to focus on one target for longer periods (bossfights, "tanking", etc) then the Sci Ody will pull ahead.
It's not a question of noticing any real benefit from this supposed buff.
I just can't see any evidence for any such buff even existing.
There is no measurable increase in my power values themselves when flying an Excelsior Retrofit; and the numeric skillpoint display (which gets increased for ALL OTHER types of Efficiency or Performance buffs, regardless of how small) remains unchanged.
Basically: I don't believe that there IS an extra energy buff on the Retrofit.
The Exelsior retrofit has the same power system bonuses that the standard (commander) Excelsior has. any and all core efficiency becomes somewhat ineffective after a certain over level is reached and to push it any a level any higher will involve a mix of player skill in given system performance and core efficiency and then playing again with the ingame power levels but when you reach a certain point the efficiency becomes near useless as it is a percentage boost on each one so it is possible to overload it leaving you an end efficiency boost of 0.x per boost and that WILL reduce the benefit derived from these boosts.
Sorry, that's just how it is (I learned this from my science toon)
The Exelsior retrofit has the same power system bonuses that the standard (commander) Excelsior has
That's just it: the stardard "Commander" Excelsior has +5 energy to all systems: this is the standard bonus for Federation Cruisers. The "Retrofit" T5 Excelsior has this same +5 energy to all systems.
But pottsey's claim here is about something different. The CStore text description for the Retrofit also "claims" that it has an extra inherent scaling bonus to Subsystem Performance. It doesn't have any such bonus. It also doesn't have any bonus to Subsystem Efficiency.
You state here that you think your Excelsior Retrofit has an Efficiency bonus, which is useless for your ship. It does not have any such bonus. The only thing which gives an Efficiency bonus from any Excelsior is the Transwarp Computer Universal Console from the standard (not the T5) Excelsior.
You are right in that "Efficiency" is a completely different mechanic from "Performance" - efficiency only starts affecting your ship power for systems with a power setting of less than 75, whereas performance always adds a flat buff to your weapons power. And yes, there is a diminishing returns mechanic in place for the power granted via Efficiency. But any increases to your Starship's Efficiency rating are going to be visible in your ship UI readout. It doesn't matter if adding another small Efficiency buff would actually make your Energy levels rise or not, the skillpoint change from it would still be visible.
Try this yourself: Go to a space map (not sector space). Bring up your ship equipment panel, click on the STATUS tab. Look down the "Skill-Based Stats: Space" list until you get to the Engineering "Starship Warp Core Efficency" Skill Value. The value here changes depending on your buffs. Add a Transwarp Computer console, or slot an Efficient BOFF, and it rises. This isn't limited to external buffs... any Buffs inherent to a ship kick in here as well: my D'Kora has a bonus to Armor Skills which is visible on this display.
Actual power values of your ship aside (and as stated before - I am able to detect a change of less than 0.1 power thanks to a LOT of firsthand testing and a carefully balanced Deflector and EPTS1 setup. The lowest I successfully measured has been a variation of 0.02 power).... If the T5 Excelsior DID have any special bonuses to power (either Efficiency or Performance) then you'd see them kick in here.
Wrong, you forgot your skills settings, the base rate is higher to start with so any additional bonus is a percentage of a higher base. My standard Regent turns at 11.9 deg/sec with no RCS consoles, with aux to dampers that goes up to 17.6 deg/sec. Just because you don't know how to set up a ship doesn't mean I don't. Don't come on here stating that what i have said is not true, I take offence at being called a liar and if you want to do a 1v1 pvp in your tac oddy against my regent we can soon settle this. Go pro or go home, how about put up or shut up! LOL
Dude, dont get butthurt. You sound like one of those guys who go around saying "You even bench bro?" LOL
My experience with the cruisers is mostly with single cannons as I never really liked the skills available to beams just seamed that cannons had better skills.
So single cannon comparison of the tac cruisers. Excelsior wins hands down as the pure energy build. I ran a sep tac Odyssesy for a long time on tribble to compare them and even tough I had an extra Omega and two boffs that didnt have to be con officers the Excelsior's inertia and base turnrate just let me get an ever so slightly better time on targets with the front cannons. And I abused every little trick in the game for the both of them, Reverse turning subspace console omega engine rcs MkXII console. Excelsior just still turns better than an odyssey with saucer sep. And the Excelsior's ensign eng is actually a really powerful heal if you give yourself spots to use it. Its only going to put TT on cooldown for 15 seconds so anytime your not going to 100% need TT to keep your shields up against an attack, hull heal. Gonna do a Warp plasma run on an escort? Pop a Hull heal he wont be shooting at you for a few seconds, Either on fire or running. Have a buddy taking lots of fire and needing to keep his TT up to hold his shields together Eng team on him. Fighting a pyro sci ship, oh and you will after those romulan rep items get looked at , its not your shields that will need healing. Aslo so very useful for putting your hull back together after getting hit by a AMS ninja'd trico cluster, I've gotten where if I get hit with a AMS I just BFI and wait to hit my TSS and engi team. Regent is an also ran as far as all energy cannon build are concerned less turnrate and a ens tac without a really useful ability other than freeing up two duty officers.
Now if your going to replace a turret with that wide angle torp and put a skill in the ens makes it different regent is better then. But that sci pyro build will kill you every time.
If you want to do some dps and support heal or tank the Odyssey is the one to take.
All in all I would suggest the Odyssey even though its not the absolute best single cannon DPS cruiser, as it can randomly decide to be a sci power throwing support tank today and be good at it, none of the others are that flexible. I basically worship my tac excelsior, but it just cant say today is a day to make black holes.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Pro: Best turn rate of any cruiser on fed side. This makes her easy to handle and gives her the versatility to use a cannon set up if you so choose.
Con: Ensign Engineering slot is useless...completely useless. Someone said they used engineering team? I suppose you could do that, but it shares a cool-down with tactical team which you should always have up so to me that's just a fail.
Regent:
Pro: Wide Angle Torp! Can be equipped on any ship so this isn't a pro for the regent as much as its a pro for any cruiser you're running. If you are using a cruiser and you want to use torpedoes this is (arguably) the best choice.
Pro: Bridge Officer Layout is (again-arguably) the best you will find on a cruiser.
Pro: Mediocre turn rate, better then the Ody at least. Kind of the middle ground considering your choices.
Odyssey:
Pro: Bridge Officer Universals offer a lot of build options.
Pro: Higher shield modifier and hull hit points then the other two.
Con: TRIBBLE maneuvering unless you have the chevron sep.
My favorite of the three is the Regent since it seems like a good balance between all three. Also if you like the look of the Assault Cruiser you will enjoy looking at your ship which is important to most. Not to mention I couldn't really come up with any cons.
Con: Ensign Engineering slot is useless...completely useless. Someone said they used engineering team? I suppose you could do that, but it shares a cool-down with tactical team which you should always have up so to me that's just a fail.
I don't think it's entirely useless, just sub-optimal. You could used EPtS1 as the ensign power and only one copy of EPtS2 for lieutenant, with maybe a RSP to take up the other lieutenant power.
It's definitely a con, no question, but I don't know that I'd call it useless. It would be better if it were a universal slot though (but then, there are a lot of ships that would benefit from a universal ensign slot - for a c-store ship, even more so). The Excelsior's higher turn and also higher inertia rating are still really, really good pros.
Dude, dont get butthurt. You sound like one of those guys who go around saying "You even bench bro?" LOL
the funny part was that we did actually duell each other, nobody died, nobody even came close to exploding (as expected). the only measurable difference was that i did 200k more healing and 100k more dmg in a nearly 20 min engagement. My engineer in a starcruiser oddy (the free one), he in his regent with a tac captain. I had a screenshot somewhere, but since that was 6 month ago, i deleted it probably.
He is definately not a bad player, but as i stated before...the regent is not superior to the oddy (not even the free one)...the versatility of all oddy class ships, make them the smarter choice between the regent and the oddy ships.
If you want manuverability there are better cruisers than the regent, if you want tank/support there are also better choices...so it remains a mix that only is interesting to a small croud. Too bad actually because i love the assault cruiser design much more than all the other cruisers.
I say it again, the fleet heavy cruiser retrofit. Tanks better than assault cruisers, turns like Excelsior, Slides like Negh'Var Don't let the shield modifier fool you, it actually has a lot better shields.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
I say it again, the fleet heavy cruiser retrofit. Tanks better than assault cruisers, turns like Excelsior, Slides like Negh'Var Don't let the shield modifier fool you, it actually has a lot better shields.
i only hear good stuff about that ship actually. if only it haden't that awefull model...should add an excelsior skin for that ship, or an assault cruiser skin (since the fleet AC is still not coming)
The model is actually awesome. In pvp half the people think you are prometheus, the other half thing you are vet ship, while you are really tanky cruiser !
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
I say it again, the fleet heavy cruiser retrofit. Tanks better than assault cruisers, turns like Excelsior, Slides like Negh'Var Don't let the shield modifier fool you, it actually has a lot better shields.
THANK you all so much for this thread. As a LONG time Excelsior Retrofit user, I recently treid the Regent (Ody is just too big) and I have found this all very useful.
I'm a Tac, so I really like the Excelsior's turn rate over the other two. I disagree with the folks calling the Excelsior's ensign engineering station a waste... I miss it TERRIBLY on the Regent.
This is probably very out of date, but the one that was mentioned was the Transfer Shield Strength III in place of Directed Energy Modulation II (a skill that I use, but am always inclined to give up).
Maybe the Ambassador Class will answer all of our prayers lol
Comments
I'm actually very glad to hear that someone did!
Any conclusions you came up with, re: Sci Ody vs. Tac Ody, or anything else like that? (Hopefully "I'm a terrible cruiser commander" not being among those conclusions...)
Actually it doesn't.
Maybe there's an "old version" that does, but my own Excelsior gives only +5, and the C-Store advertises +5.
It might be that the Transwarp Computer console provides this, but I thought it provided a boost to the Warp Core Efficiency stat as opposed to a direct boost to system power.
The Excelsior (not Excelsior Retrofit) used to come with a Transwarp Driver Coil (which granted individual skill efficiency bonuses and a bunch of handy Transwarp shortcuts) before the skill changes kicked in and it changed to a Transwarp Computer (which grants no transwarp shortcuts. Boo. :mad:)
There was a similar console that came with the Excelsior Retrofit, but that one was discontinued. The Retrofit now comes with the extra Transwarp locations built-in to the ship - but the performance bonuses (despite being listed as present as a "scaling bonus" in the ship's CStore text) aren't in effect any more:
I am currently sitting in a space map as a max level Captain in an Excelsior Retrofit. At 100 weapons energy, with all the default equipment, my weapons power is reading 115/100 (which is normal for my skill layout on a standard cruiser with "+5 to all energy settings" - the Borg console would push this up to 120). My Space Stat UI readout shows that I'm getting +15 to Warp Core Efficiency and +10 to Warp Core Performance on top of my skillpoints - but these are consistent with the bonuses from my Captain Traits. I can't see any bonus to power settings on the Excelsior Retrofit- there's no additional raw bonus on top of the standard cruiser "+5 to all settings", and nothing extra being granted via any of the "efficiency" or "performance" skills.
Efficiency bonuses scale, granting the strongest buff at the lowest energy slider setting (25).
My Aux and Engine settings were both at 25 in the above test. Firstly, the UI readout showed no Efficiency bonuses to the Efficency Skill (it was at 114, which is 99 from my skillpoints plus 15 from my Captain Trait). And secondly, my Engines/Aux power sat at 51/25, which is consistent with my usual loadout.
If I slotted the console from the Standard Excelsior (+22.9 efficiency skill) in the ship, and/or some Efficient BOFFs (+7.5 each), that energy setting would rise up a little (the furthest I've been able to push a standard Cruiser's energy setting via efficiency alone is around 57/25 with the Transwarp Computer console, the Efficient Captain trait and 5/5 Efficient BOFFs). I've done a lot of testing with the Ship Power Spreadsheet and various levels of EPTX to get my ship energy levels sitting "just right", so I'd notice if they were up or down by even one tenth of an energy point. I suppose it's technically possible that the ship is granting an efficiency bonus that (unlike other bonuses from BOFFs and consoles) is invisible to the UI skill readout... but if so, it's very small: like less-than-the-bonus-from-one-efficient-BOFF small.
I did say you likely wouldn't notice it, you'd notice it even less in combat
It's not a question of noticing any real benefit from this supposed buff.
I just can't see any evidence for any such buff even existing.
There is no measurable increase in my power values themselves when flying an Excelsior Retrofit; and the numeric skillpoint display (which gets increased for ALL OTHER types of Efficiency or Performance buffs, regardless of how small) remains unchanged.
Basically: I don't believe that there IS an extra energy buff on the Retrofit.
Despite what the CStore text says (that text's had some issues with accuracy in the past)
Well my first thought was "darnit, I'm gonna have to go find and install the same logging utility to decipher these numbers!" :P
It looked pretty similar to what I'd expected from the Tac Odyssey being better for shorter engagements. It's trickier to see from logs when someone's switching targets, but you can make a decent guess given ability usage. It looked like you tended towards shorter fights than would favour Sensor Analysis.
I stand by my earlier statements about it being a matter of playstyle - if you tend to swap targets at least once every 30 seconds (either for targetted buffing/healing teammates or via killing stuff quickly) then the Tac version's going to be better suited for you. At least for whatever damage type you're enhancing via Tac Consoles. Whereas if you tend to focus on one target for longer periods (bossfights, "tanking", etc) then the Sci Ody will pull ahead.
The Exelsior retrofit has the same power system bonuses that the standard (commander) Excelsior has. any and all core efficiency becomes somewhat ineffective after a certain over level is reached and to push it any a level any higher will involve a mix of player skill in given system performance and core efficiency and then playing again with the ingame power levels but when you reach a certain point the efficiency becomes near useless as it is a percentage boost on each one so it is possible to overload it leaving you an end efficiency boost of 0.x per boost and that WILL reduce the benefit derived from these boosts.
Sorry, that's just how it is (I learned this from my science toon)
That's just it: the stardard "Commander" Excelsior has +5 energy to all systems: this is the standard bonus for Federation Cruisers. The "Retrofit" T5 Excelsior has this same +5 energy to all systems.
But pottsey's claim here is about something different. The CStore text description for the Retrofit also "claims" that it has an extra inherent scaling bonus to Subsystem Performance. It doesn't have any such bonus. It also doesn't have any bonus to Subsystem Efficiency.
You state here that you think your Excelsior Retrofit has an Efficiency bonus, which is useless for your ship. It does not have any such bonus. The only thing which gives an Efficiency bonus from any Excelsior is the Transwarp Computer Universal Console from the standard (not the T5) Excelsior.
You are right in that "Efficiency" is a completely different mechanic from "Performance" - efficiency only starts affecting your ship power for systems with a power setting of less than 75, whereas performance always adds a flat buff to your weapons power. And yes, there is a diminishing returns mechanic in place for the power granted via Efficiency. But any increases to your Starship's Efficiency rating are going to be visible in your ship UI readout. It doesn't matter if adding another small Efficiency buff would actually make your Energy levels rise or not, the skillpoint change from it would still be visible.
Try this yourself: Go to a space map (not sector space). Bring up your ship equipment panel, click on the STATUS tab. Look down the "Skill-Based Stats: Space" list until you get to the Engineering "Starship Warp Core Efficency" Skill Value. The value here changes depending on your buffs. Add a Transwarp Computer console, or slot an Efficient BOFF, and it rises. This isn't limited to external buffs... any Buffs inherent to a ship kick in here as well: my D'Kora has a bonus to Armor Skills which is visible on this display.
Actual power values of your ship aside (and as stated before - I am able to detect a change of less than 0.1 power thanks to a LOT of firsthand testing and a carefully balanced Deflector and EPTS1 setup. The lowest I successfully measured has been a variation of 0.02 power).... If the T5 Excelsior DID have any special bonuses to power (either Efficiency or Performance) then you'd see them kick in here.
You don't.
It doesn't.
Dude, dont get butthurt. You sound like one of those guys who go around saying "You even bench bro?" LOL
So single cannon comparison of the tac cruisers. Excelsior wins hands down as the pure energy build. I ran a sep tac Odyssesy for a long time on tribble to compare them and even tough I had an extra Omega and two boffs that didnt have to be con officers the Excelsior's inertia and base turnrate just let me get an ever so slightly better time on targets with the front cannons. And I abused every little trick in the game for the both of them, Reverse turning subspace console omega engine rcs MkXII console. Excelsior just still turns better than an odyssey with saucer sep. And the Excelsior's ensign eng is actually a really powerful heal if you give yourself spots to use it. Its only going to put TT on cooldown for 15 seconds so anytime your not going to 100% need TT to keep your shields up against an attack, hull heal. Gonna do a Warp plasma run on an escort? Pop a Hull heal he wont be shooting at you for a few seconds, Either on fire or running. Have a buddy taking lots of fire and needing to keep his TT up to hold his shields together Eng team on him. Fighting a pyro sci ship, oh and you will after those romulan rep items get looked at
Now if your going to replace a turret with that wide angle torp and put a skill in the ens makes it different regent is better then. But that sci pyro build will kill you every time.
If you want to do some dps and support heal or tank the Odyssey is the one to take.
All in all I would suggest the Odyssey even though its not the absolute best single cannon DPS cruiser, as it can randomly decide to be a sci power throwing support tank today and be good at it, none of the others are that flexible. I basically worship my tac excelsior, but it just cant say today is a day to make black holes.
Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Pro: Best turn rate of any cruiser on fed side. This makes her easy to handle and gives her the versatility to use a cannon set up if you so choose.
Con: Ensign Engineering slot is useless...completely useless. Someone said they used engineering team? I suppose you could do that, but it shares a cool-down with tactical team which you should always have up so to me that's just a fail.
Regent:
Pro: Wide Angle Torp! Can be equipped on any ship so this isn't a pro for the regent as much as its a pro for any cruiser you're running. If you are using a cruiser and you want to use torpedoes this is (arguably) the best choice.
Pro: Bridge Officer Layout is (again-arguably) the best you will find on a cruiser.
Pro: Mediocre turn rate, better then the Ody at least. Kind of the middle ground considering your choices.
Odyssey:
Pro: Bridge Officer Universals offer a lot of build options.
Pro: Higher shield modifier and hull hit points then the other two.
Con: TRIBBLE maneuvering unless you have the chevron sep.
My favorite of the three is the Regent since it seems like a good balance between all three. Also if you like the look of the Assault Cruiser you will enjoy looking at your ship which is important to most. Not to mention I couldn't really come up with any cons.
It's definitely a con, no question, but I don't know that I'd call it useless. It would be better if it were a universal slot though (but then, there are a lot of ships that would benefit from a universal ensign slot - for a c-store ship, even more so). The Excelsior's higher turn and also higher inertia rating are still really, really good pros.
the funny part was that we did actually duell each other, nobody died, nobody even came close to exploding (as expected). the only measurable difference was that i did 200k more healing and 100k more dmg in a nearly 20 min engagement. My engineer in a starcruiser oddy (the free one), he in his regent with a tac captain. I had a screenshot somewhere, but since that was 6 month ago, i deleted it probably.
He is definately not a bad player, but as i stated before...the regent is not superior to the oddy (not even the free one)...the versatility of all oddy class ships, make them the smarter choice between the regent and the oddy ships.
If you want manuverability there are better cruisers than the regent, if you want tank/support there are also better choices...so it remains a mix that only is interesting to a small croud. Too bad actually because i love the assault cruiser design much more than all the other cruisers.
Had the best luck with a tac oddy with 7 beams and a 180 firing beam fire at will 3, attack pattern beta 1, torp spread 1 and 2...
running cannons on excelsior and using the temporal DEM boff is magnificent.
told ya so
a history of sto pvp: 2010 - 2011
a history of sto pvp: 2012 - 2013
i only hear good stuff about that ship actually. if only it haden't that awefull model...should add an excelsior skin for that ship, or an assault cruiser skin (since the fleet AC is still not coming)
THANK you all so much for this thread. As a LONG time Excelsior Retrofit user, I recently treid the Regent (Ody is just too big) and I have found this all very useful.
I'm a Tac, so I really like the Excelsior's turn rate over the other two. I disagree with the folks calling the Excelsior's ensign engineering station a waste... I miss it TERRIBLY on the Regent.
My stations are:
Tac: (Lt.Cmdr.) TT1, FAWII, BOIII
Eng: (Cmdr) EPShld1, RSP1, DEMII, SIFIII
Eng: (Lt.) ET1, EPAuxII
Eng: (Ens.) EPWeap1
Sci: (Lt.) TSS1, HEII
This is probably very out of date, but the one that was mentioned was the Transfer Shield Strength III in place of Directed Energy Modulation II (a skill that I use, but am always inclined to give up).
Maybe the Ambassador Class will answer all of our prayers lol